1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of social networking and more particularly to navigational pivot points for social networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
A social network refers to a social structure of nodes each associated with a different person or organization. The interconnections of each node reflect direct relationships between the respective people and organizations such that the directness of a relationship between two persons or organizations associated with respective nodes can be summarized by the path of interconnections between the respective nodes. In this way, any one individual in a social network can evaluate the number and quality of social relationships with others in the network, those relationships ranging from close familial bonds to casual acquaintances.
The advent of the global Internet has changed the way in which social networks can be viewed. Originally, a mere visual tool describing a social phenomenon, computerized social networks facilitate the recognition and expansion of social networks amongst interacting users across the globe. Whereas geographic boundaries previously limited the extent and quality of a given social network, the global Internet enables limitless expansion of the social network based upon a vast set of aware collaborators coupled by the fabric of computer communications.
Commercial computerized social networks have become wildly popular in recent years—especially amongst the younger demographic. Examples include the MySpace™ computer socialized network maintained by MySpace, Inc. of Los Angeles, Calif., LinkedIn™ computerized business network maintained by LinkedIn Corporation of Palo Alto, Calif., and the Facebook™ computerized social network maintained by Facebook of Palo Alto, Calif. Commercial computerized social networks represent social networking services connecting users according to different types of interests in an aggregated view—generally a Web site hosting user contributed content through imagery and commentary.
Commercial computerized social networks allow users to create individual profiles. Each profile can include social media including imagery such as photographs of the user and things relevant to the user. Each profile further can include textual materials such as lifestyle information, or general writings. Notably, users can establish networks of favorite “friends”. Favorite friends can be specified manually by a given user and often represent the individuals or organizations most favored by the given user. Each of the favorite friends can be presented in the Web site so as to allow linking to a corresponding profile for the favorite friend. In this way, an end user literally can navigate shared social media in the social network for a given user.
Generally, when navigating shared social media in a social network, users discover content by navigating along different parameters, such as media type or content ownership. However, the navigation user interface for navigating shared media in a social network lacks consistency and varies from display to display. In a social media system, the user or group of users is the fundamental organizing concept, and all other data (such as photographs and textual materials) are to be interpreted in the context of their creator or creators.
It is therefore important during browsing or searching for the user to be able to understand who has created the content being browsed, and preferably to understand some additional information about that creator. If information about the creator is displayed inconsistently, or is hidden from view, the task of the user becomes more difficult. Further, oftentimes a photo or textual reference to a user in a social network is provided in connection with content associated with or owned by the user. However, when a user name or photo of a user in a social network is presented, selecting the user name or photo results in a display of the profile page for the user only.